Gebhart: Hegarty, a true good guy, exemplified class

Some years back, there was a national bestseller titled, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” The book explains that sometimes – probably even most times – there are no reasons for such events. No matter how good a person may be, some awfully bad things can happen.

Take for example Jim Hegarty.

Mr. Hegarty passed away on Sept. 24 about five months after undergoing surgery for cancer. To say he fell into the “good people” category would be a vast understatement. That didn’t prevent a very bad thing, his all-too-early demise from happening.

What placed Mr. Hegarty far above the usual “good guy” category was his lifelong commitment to helping others. Nowhere was this more appreciated than by two organizations, the St. James Alumni Association and the American Red Cross. No man, they say, is irreplaceable. In the case of these two outfits, don’t bet on it.

The Rev. Charles O’Hara, the former Notre Dame U. halfback and a St. James classmate (“59) of Mr. Hegarty, cut short a fishing vacation in Maine with his brothers to celebrate the funeral Mass Saturday at St. Rose of Lima Church in Eddystone.

“If I had to select one word to describe Jim it would be ‘loyal,’ Fr. O’Hara said. “Loyal to his family, his church, St. James, his Navy shipmates and to all his friends. He was always there for you.”

Two of his oldest friends – going back about 65 years – would be Ed Blair and Nick Trainer. Blair met Mr. Hegarty when all three attended Immaculate Heart Parochial school at 2nd and Norris streets in Chester. Blair walked to school from his home in the William Penn Projects. Trainer and Mr. Hegarty rode the old Short Line bus to school, Nick from Aston and Jimmy from Village Green.

Trainer became head of a multimillion dollar chemical company. Today, he is one of the nation’s most sought-after collegiate football officials. Back then, he was just another sixth grader at Immaculate Heart.

“Jim was the youngest of three brothers,” Trainer said. “His brothers, John and Joe were huge. John was big enough and good enough to play football at North Carolina. Jim was a little guy, the runt of the litter.

“But he also was pretty tough. At St. James he ran track and cross country. He didn’t pile up many ‘firsts,’ but he never quit, never gave up. He ran on sheer will power. I’ll say this for Jimmy, once he got on to something, he was totally committed.”

Blair, who served as president of Upland Borough Council for 22 years, stayed in touch with Mr. Hegarty over the years. “After high school, we drifted apart a little, as usually happens after graduation,” Blair said. “But this is a man who was deeply loved by everybody who knew him. He gave the feeling that no matter what, you could always count on him.”

The American Red Cross could always count on Mr. Hegarty, too.

Over the last 10 years or so, Mr. Hegarty organized, produced, and promoted two blood drives at the St. James Alumni headquarters, the Dog House in Eddystone. The Red Cross, recognizing a real go-getter in Hegarty, scheduled his blood drives for two of the toughest times of the year – just before the July 4 holiday and a week or so before Christmas.

Mr. Hegarty always accepted the challenge and, more importantly, always met his goal of donors. Asking for a person’s blood isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but how could you turn down Jim?

It wasn’t as if he was asking you to do something he hadn’t done. Actually, over the years Mr. Hegarty donated blood close to 400 times, enough to fill almost 50 gallon jugs!

But if any organization benefitted from Mr. Hegarty’s goodness, it was the St. James Alumni Association.

Mike Ritz, the association’s president, said, “Jimmy was one of the hardest working members we ever had, right from the beginning and especially since we bought the Doghouse ten years ago. No matter the activity – blood drive, toy drive, food drive – Jim was always front and center. He put himself in charge of keeping the grounds nice, cutting the grass and trimming the bushes. He took great pride in that so we named him our Secretary of Agriculture.

“Earlier this year I knew Jim was having back problems, and he showed up one day with his arm in a sling. Believe it or not, he was swinging the weed whacker with one arm! I made him stop, but he wasn’t a bit happy. I told him we’d hire someone to do his job. He only agreed when I assured him that if he didn’t like the job the new guys were doing, we’d fire them and find somebody else.”

Did I mention that sometimes bad things happen to good people? Well, sometimes good things happen to those good folks, too. For Mr. Hegarty, those “good things” include his loving wife of 50 years, Carolyn, two sons who live nearby, Jim Jr. and Tom and seven adoring grandchildren.

Speaking of Mr. Hegarty’s family, St. James has a group called “Friends of St. James”. I’m not sure of the group’s functions, but I do know they collect dues each year. “Every year,” President Ritz said, “Jimmy sends in dues not only for himself but for his two sons and seven grandchildren. This year he added a new name, ‘Murphy’ Hegarty. I called Jim and told him we couldn’t accept ‘Murphy’. It seems ‘Murphy’ is the family dog!” Nice try, Jim.

That 1959 group, of which Mr. Hegarty is a member, takes great pride in calling themselves, “THE class of St. James.” At this time, I’d like to nominate James J. Hegarty as THE CLASS of the class of 1959.

Ed Gebhart is a retired public relations executive. His column appears Sunday.